Premise Automatic Media

[tomsmoot]

Hi all,

I have an interesting question and/ or idea. I have several windows computers throughout my house, and premise server on one downstairs. I can play my media files just fine through premise in my room without any zones or anything setup other than the media files in premise. Each computer I login, and 'play through browser'. My real desire would be to setup a sort of alarm clock for my kids. If I understand right, UPnP AV drivers should allow this to be possible if say, a WinCE platform in a kids' room was a UPnP AV device setup in premise builder. Then it's a simple event, or even a complex script. I would like to run the least amount of services possible to work this out. The media playing in premise is a great whole house audio, and it seems like a no-brainer.

I've only been working with premise for a few days, and I'm new to the whole HA deal. Any comments, thoughts, concerns?

Tom

 

[chucklyons]

I haven't played with the 'play music in the browser' fature in a long time. (in my current version, it's no longer an option)...I am all zoned, so I just set the zone to turn music on at the scheduled time.

A quick glance makes me think there may be a couple of issues - the 'play in browser' is more of a manual process - of course most manual processes can be automated. The one issue I can't follow is that media can be played from the media option - and directed to a zone or to the browser. You don't get that option from within a mediazone. If you select 'play in browser', then go to webserver->Sites->Default Sites->Sessions->Session, in the properties pane, scroll down until you see the WebSessionEx section. You will see that the source (fileprovider for mp3s - or whatever you have called it) will be the 'Current Location' and Current Panel will be 'Play Panel'. Now go to a mediazone, and play the music for just that zone (something like house->living room->mediazone) then go back to the WebSessionEx - you'll see current location, etc will change to reflect the new location.
The next issue I see would be the 'group' issue - play music in the browser, go to a room with a mediazone, then see if you can play music or if you get the dreaded 'There are no devices available' message, which means the source is tied up directing media to another zone/browser session. You can 'play in browser' whether the source is used or not, so I suspect it's more of a WMP 'pass-thru' then an actual Premise function. One of the other folks probably knows the answer.
Whether upnp would solve/enable what you're trying to do; no idea. (there are a couple of upnp drivers in the download section...)

Welcome to the Premise forum, btw...

If you have a family, say good-bye to them while you can. They probably won't see you for a while

 

[tomsmoot]

Kids are visiting Mom for the summer, so I have some free time. Looking forward to getting further into premise.

As for my idea, I think there are easier options that don't include Premise like shared storage (NAS or whatever). I just like the idea of being able to have one screen or one program.

While I'm n00bing around, I have a couple questions along the same lines. I have an old MCE IR blaster lying around, and just wondering if and/or how it is addressed in Premise. I haven't gotten too far into the drivers and hardware yet, although I see USB-UIRT as a close alternate.

Second, any way to use the scheduler and/or scripting, etc. for DVR functions with DirecTV box under serial control. XP MCE is just a little too cumbersome for me anymore.

Third, slightly unrelated, how about access to my PC webcam in automation browser, minibrowser, etc. Is IP camera the best way to go? I have a puppy, and the webcam gives me the ability to check in on his anger management skills (he likes to chew when we leave). It is a pain to setup webcam access on my android phone.

Thanks for any answers, thoughts, or ideas, and this is the first form I have joined after years of sitting on the sidelines.

 

[chucklyons]

ugh. Where is the foot in the mouth emoticon? :blush:

Single screen - 123 wrote a module called 'Weblinks'. Look for it in the download section - basically an iFrame that allows you to interface with other Web UIs (same potential solution for your webcam)

Not sure whether its in Downloads or the old Premise forums (look at Wiki for link), there was an MCE driver written by Damon - it may help in using MCE as well as seeing how the xdo was developed (using something you're familiar with). You would have to test it - generally, if it works with your normal IR remote, then it will work w/ Premise.

I don't recall seeing a DirecTV driver - you could do serially, or as an interim, combination of scripting and IR.

For me the IP cam is the best. Longer distance and is relatively straight forward to connect, even to Premise.


Lastly, a lot of good tutorials put together by 123 and the original Premise group - look at them and you'll get a sense of the power....

 

[tomsmoot]

That is all truly amazing. Thank you. I am downloading the HSDK right now and have spent some time 'hands-on' with the builder.

The weblinks idea is brilliant. I will look at that. I'm still not getting the feel for Premise yet, but I will eventually. I think I'm over-complicating things, which is easy with Premise. I hope to get into the HSDK soon. The more I read, the more ideas I have. I will have to ask before I waste my time on something someone else may have labored on.

I only have DirecTV until FiOS gets here (but I don't know when). I do have a new USB-serial cable on the way for my set-top box. I would eventually like to call something like mEncoder or WME to record programs, with the tuner card input being the DTV output controlled by Premise. Then it's easy to have the recorded program stored in a shared place to access anywhere in the house 'on-demand'. Way back when I had 'standard' cable this was easy to do with MCE and my tuner card, but not anymore. I don't mind going back to MCE, but the saved programs are ridiculously oversized, then need conversion, and so on.

I will look for the MCE driver and the videos too. I'll let you know if I stumble onto anything productive.

Thanks for the great ideas. Really looking forward to it.

 

[Waynedb]

There is a DirectTV driver that Damon Deen wrote, in the downloads section here.
If you have watched the training videos for Premise, you will know who Damon is.
I have not used the DirectTV driver myself, I have SageTV controlling my DirectTV receivers.

http://www.cocoontech.com/forums/index.php...mp;showfile=114

 

[123]

If you need Premise to control Media Center, try etc6849's driver for Vista's Media Center.

If you simply need a driver for the IR Blaster, have a look at the driver for the Home Electonic's IRS-3 IR receiver (the IRA-2 is a receiver whereas the TIRA-2 is a transceiver). It may not be the correct one for your IR blaster but can serve as the basis for a new IR driver.

I highly recommend you view the video tutorials hosted by Damon Deen. You may also want to view my tutorials. I suggest starting with the introductory tutorial How to Build a Premise Home.

 

[tomsmoot]

@ Waynedb- I have heard a lot about SageTV. how do you like it? I assume you haven't used Media Center. Probably difficult for us to compare them. I would have to say using Media Center is much similar to say WMP9-ish (of course that's MCE '05), with the extra-large view (I think they called it the 10' interface or something).

The is a big community out there making plugins, addons, etc. for it. I used to use MCEBuddy. It could schedule my shows, record & skip commercials, and then convert the file to DivX or whatever, all automated. I loved it. Now I have DTV :blush: .

@123- I have tried out some of the videos and tutorials. Very good setup, but I learn better by doing. It will click sooner or later. I will keep working at it. I'm not understanding how to alter or create a new driver. For example, the IRS-3 driver doesn't work with the MCE IR Blaster, but I feel confident I could figure something out. Is the code the VB Script, or do I open the XDO file (with what?), or figure out the VS2008 wizard?

Which leads to another question. I downloaded the HSDK, and ran setup. Everything went ok until I tried to use it. I'm using VC++ 2008 'EXPRESS EDITION'. I can't figure out how to get the wizards to load. My C is weak at beat, but I used to use VB back when it was vb6. The express edition is stand-alone. I get no options to open wizards from the 'studio'. Any ideas?

Thanks guys. (I could really dig this stuff)

 

[123]

All Module-based drivers (like the IRA-3) are composed within Premise Builder. The XDO file is just a vehicle for sharing the driver and one does not normally modify it directly.

In Builder's Shortcut Bar, click Modules. The Explorer window will list all of the installed Modules. For example, the AutomationBrowser is one of the largest modules and is used by Premise to render its browser interface.

I would recommend studying the IRA-3 driver to get an idea of how a driver is put together. If you want to use it as the basis of an MCE IR driver, import the IRA-3 XDO (as you've already done) and then copy/paste it within Builder. Rename the copy. Never tweak the original driver to create a new one.

The HSDK will not work with the Express version of Visual Studio; it requires the full version. It was originally designed for VS 2005 but I posted how to make it work with VS 2008. The HSDK uses a Custom Wizard, to build driver classes, and the Express version does not allow custom wizards (as far as I know).

Writing a driver with the HSDK is not for the faint of heart. Unless you have software development experience, and you're comfortable with C++, I suggest you create a Module. Builder provides a decent IDE and a debugger; the development experience is highly interactive and much faster than working with the HSDK.

 

[Waynedb]

@ Waynedb- I have heard a lot about SageTV. how do you like it? I assume you haven't used Media Center. Probably difficult for us to compare them. I would have to say using Media Center is much similar to say WMP9-ish (of course that's MCE '05), with the extra-large view (I think they called it the 10' interface or something).

I like it a lot better than MCE, I have MCE 05 and Vista MCE (on my laptop) and I don't like it.
With SageTV I can have many different sources and get guide data for all of them, with MCE 05 at least I could only have one source for the guide. I will give an example of my setup, I have a R5000 HD Sat receiver, a DTV receiver (using a HD-PVR to capture), several ATSC tuners and a FTA satellite card. SageTV gives me a nice EPG that makes everything seemless. Sage recordings also do not use DRM so they can be played back with no hassles on other devices. The number 1 reason I like SageTV over MCE is the HD200 hardware clients that can playback just about anything you throw at it and they only use about 7 watts or so, I never understood why anyone would want to use an XBOX 360 as a media extender.

 

[Waynedb]

I also have SageTV's web interface in a webframe, so I can browse the guide, setup recordings and even have one or more of my HD200s play a program. I can also bring up the web remote in a webframe.

 

[chucklyons]

Wayne! Very nice 'integration' effort! A nicely done example of integrating other products into Premise, for a true web-based whole house control center. Job well done!

 

[Waynedb]

Wayne! Very nice 'integration' effort! A nicely done example of integrating other products into Premise, for a true web-based whole house control center. Job well done!

The guys who wrote the webserver for SageTV did the hard work, all I did was bring it up in a webframe.

 

[tomsmoot]

Hey, I have a free day to n00b it up and as I was brushing up on some VBScript I came along this program called WinLIRC. It's GNU so the source is available in VB6. Also claims several plugins for Girder, Winamp, and stuff. Looks like it must be setup for use with specific IR hardware. Didn't know if it would be helpful to anyone.

http://winlirc.sourceforge.net/